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Human Ascension Force
The Human Ascension Force was the primary autonetic human based military occupation force used by the Dominion to maintain control of the planet Earth. They were organized by global sectors in addition to urban districts and grouped by squads rather than divisions. In rare occasions, they were called in to handle situations that the Dominion Civil Authority was unable to handle or was not equipped for. In the aftermath of Operation Dethrone, most Ascension that were not autonomous were left in various states of disorder and malfunction, and remained that way until they were killed or reclaimed by the New Union or other capable forces. Composition and Functionality MBI'' and Mental Capacity'' Often a substitute to long term incarceration or amputation was conscription into the HAF. The humans inside the suits were primarily criminals, decommissioned units, the mentally ill, and other problem cases for the Infinite Dominion. Their memories and free will were repressed into a state near impossible to ever extract from their consciousness, and replaced with a substitute modified biological intelligence (MBI) and learning program. These MBI devices held within them a set vocabulary, a carefully constructed set of memories, and several training programs. This way, an HAF with an MBI implant would have the experience of a full fledged soldier without undergoing any real training at all. All of these memories and training experiences were extracted off of one individual shortly after the Great Rift War, who was hand picked by the IDn Augury and put through rigorous training courses. The fate of this 'first HAF' unit is currently unknown. The MBI allows units to either manually update their vocabulary and tactics through the field, or new vocabulary and tactics may be updated manually to several HAF at once through through a central connection relay. Their ability to learn is overall mental retention capacity is limited and monitored so that they never become sentient. Ascension speech generally comes across as mechanic, as they speak in pre-constructed sentences chosen based on the auditory keywords and visual cues they observe. If a civilian or low ranking unit says something they were not programmed to understand, they will ignore it. If a high ranking unit asks a question or gives an order they cannot locate a response to, the results were often varied if not humorous. The HAF may freeze for a time, scanning and rescanning its pre-set vocabulary trying to produce an accurate response or action. When nothing is found, HAF will usually attempt to improvise, responding to specific fragments of the order or sentence, or taking them quite literally- their answers usually coming our garbled or not making any relevant sense whatsoever. Other times they completely stop responding until issued a new order. Enlisted units used to nickname these incidents of frozen HAF as 'hiccups'. This issue can usually be resolved by simplifying the orders, speaking less casually, or speaking in code. The HAF will then record the specific confused order in memory, and provide more accurate responses should they ever hear it a second time. HAF units are incapable of emotion, and thus entirely fearless. Their inserted training makes them intelligent enough to never be wasteful and get themselves injured or killed prematurely when performing automatically, but if manually ordered, they well cast themselves in harms way. There have been cases of brief temporary HAF sentience when met with extreme pain, such as uncontrolled shouting. Basic Equipment As a general rule, every piece of HAF personal field equipment was not built for the sake of comfort, but rather complete practicality. As such their armor is quite uncomfortable to wear and their internal climate control systems were only built to ensure efficient field performance; but to an individual who cannot even think of complaining, comfort was irrelevant to the Dominion. All HAF are equipped with thermal and night vision visors, internal calculation systems for precise distance measurement, and internal mapping systems in their HUD for navigation. They can map areas locally that they have physically traversed, but otherwise rely on a Central Comms relay to give them accurate representations of broader regions they have not been physically deployed to in the past. Only common in the field units were HAF soldiers who carried their own temporary supply of HSF capsules, which were their equivalent of rations. This was quite rarely needed pre-uprising however, as Dominion APCs could be fitted to carry a supplemental recharging station. Biological Maintenance and Processes Nutrition Both the mind and the physical body of the standard HAF have been severely altered to make them as efficient as possible. All Ascension units receive some extent of muscular and sensual augmentation, making and keeping their muscles both incredibly powerful and fast, as well as improving their cognitive process and reaction times. Their muscle memory is quite excellent, allowing them to reload and other such simple memorized actions very quickly with virtually 0 chance of fumbling. These enhanced muscles and bodily systems require heavy nutritional intake to maintain. As such, a liquid dietary supplement far more nutrient rich than the standard DCA supplements was devised specifically for HAF use. This fluid was named ASF, or Ascension Supplemental Fluid. Interior and exterior tanks of various sizes full of these nutrients were installed in the HAF's Armour, and refilled as needed. Normally they were placed in the lower back of the unit, as if the tank is ruptured, the HAF would begin to digest itself within 1-3 days, and eventually die of starvation. Part of the HAF's augmentation function is regulating their body to be able to absorb such heavy nutrients at an accelerated rate. Any human without these augmentations would most likely be killed from consuming ASF. The lightly augmented, such as EpU's, would likely become very sick. Stasis As the muscles require specialize nutrition, so do the minds of the HAF require specialized rest. All Ascension have varying degrees of heightened vision, hearing, and accelerated neuron connection for making split second tactical combat decisions. Despite the advanced technology of the Dominion, they were unable to program soldiers who could avoid needing a form of sleep entirely. Stasis pods were thus designed for storage, transport, and revitalization of HAF. They were capable of directly linking to the HAF units brain and sensory functions, and providing chemicals and an optimal sealed environment for accelerated and long lasting rest. Required stasis time for maximum performance is generally short among all HAF units, and not required often, regardless of division or specialization. Vagrant or rampant units when encountered tend to perform rather poorly, as they have gone months or even years without stasis. Injury Lacking emotions and several normal human cognitive abilities, Ascension units were aware of taking fire or sustaining injury, though rarely aware of when they were in pain. In various wasteland operations, it would not be uncommon to see an Ascension unit loose a limb from an exodyte queen, and still continue firing its weapon until it bled out. With the exception of BLADE units, HAF generally have no medical knowledge either for self treatment or treatment for others. General Role, Pre-Uprising The Human Ascension Force were primarily tasked with maintaining control over large swaths of the mostly-depopulated Earth. They engaged Voidian creatures and any human survivor who resisted them. Unarmed human survivors were transported to the urban districts. Within the cities, most of the oversight and control of citizens was handled by the Dominion Civil Authority. Ascension within these cities were generally only used at high-security checkpoints, perimeter outposts, and emergencies like larger-scale uprisings and any incursions by Void creatures or necrotics. Divisions ECHO: The standard combat and emergency response division. In general, ECHO units were the lightest equipped and the fastest moving. Nearly all autonomous HAF operating in the wasteland were and still are ECHO units. As such, badland units were designed to sacrifice some of their additional armor padding and reserve ammunition storage for extra ASF tank capacity. Due to the lightest amount of mental augmentation, they also need the fewest and shortest periods of stasis. This low maintenance design allows ECHO units to partake in extended wasteland operations. Their standard mental ability allows them to adapt to changing wasteland environments and situations. Generally speaking, outside of some upgrades to armor and control systems, New Union ECHO units were largely unchanged from the original variants. They mostly utilize light arms, such as assault rifles, SMGs, and shotguns, though they have access to heavier weapons should the necessity arise. BLADE: The BLADE division commissioned by the High-Command of Protection Center 18 was created as a response to increasingly violent riots and internal city breaches. These units were specialized in safeguarding cities they were deployed in from invasive voidiant creatures and high threat rebellious outbreaks alike. BLADE units were nearly the complete opposite of ECHO units. They were heavily equipped and moved slowly. They have nearly twice the armor padding of the standard ECHO, as well as stronger muscular augmentation, along with extensive ammunition reserves. BLADE also requires slightly more unrestricted mental ability, as they were designed for complicated urban environments with multiple human targets that must be quickly identified as friendly or foe. All these upgrades do not come without a toll, however. BLADE units require extensive amounts of ASF in comparison to ECHO, and have little room for large tanks. Thus they rarely were seen far from built up IDn or NU outposts and cities. They also require a noticeably larger amount of stasis time. Due to their urban role and former interaction in civilian-dense areas, BLADE units have basic medical knowledge for triage emergencies. They can apply bio-gel, bandages, and perform simple actions, for example turning the head of a vomiting victim to the side so they do not choke. Blade equipment consists of non-lethal as well as heavy weapons for defense tactics. They utilize tear gas, smoke grenades, flash-bangs, heavy machine guns, sniper rifles, and anti-armor weaponry. KING(STORM): STORM units, formerly known as KING, were the rarely seen elite Ascension division. They could be described as a ruthlessly efficient cross between BLADE and ECHO. They were usually identified by their either pure white or black armor, and their singular red helmet visor. Pre-Dethrone, KING units served mostly as personal guards for High Command and city administration. In times of emergency, they would be deployed as nexus guards along with BLADE, or spearhead offensive operations in tangent with ECHO. STORM units were severely augmented, overwhelmingly strong, and lightning fast shock troopers. Their augments surpassed most standard pre-Dethrone high command augmentations, only being rivaled by Sectorals and some Commanders. Due to these potentially dangerous enhancements, STORM unit mental capacities were kept severely limited, most of their cognitive function relying strictly on their MBI. They also possess an array of self-destructive and control overriding fail-safes should they ever malfunction and turn on their comrades, which can be activated by high command and trusted technical division members. Earlier Storm units were the most difficult HAF to communicate with, and did not adapt or change their behavior much to new experiences beyond their programmed responses. Tactics wise however, STORM units were incredibly intelligent combat experts, being able to spot hidden dangers otherwise invisible to most others, and eliminate them with brutal speed. They would make excellent combat leaders if the average human unit or soldier could ever make sense of their precise numerical codes and orders to one another. Over time, upgrades have been made that enable them to be more adaptive and capable of increased autonomy relative to most other Ascension units. The effectiveness of these upgrades was made clear when sabotage of the City 33 Ascension garrison control systems shut down all other Ascension troopers except for the Storm units, which were able to continue to function normally and effectively. STORM units possess armor even more durable than that of BLADE, while their augmentations allow them to move with the speed of an ECHO. As expected, these highly advanced units were also very taxing to maintain. Unless modified for specific purpose, most require heavy amounts of ASF, as well as (relative to HAF) extended and frequent rest periods. STORM units have access to the entirety of the NU arsenal. Their traditional weapon is the PAC rifle, usually armed with a supply of IDnEE Abrasion cells. In the modern day, they mainly use PBFF class weaponry during the war with the IDn Contingency. Specializations All HAF were assigned specializations which grant minor diversity in their weapon choice, tactics, and cognitive ability. There were currently 4 standard Specializations. ASG (Ascension Gunman) Standard and most common HAF specialization. These units follow default procedures and tactics specific to their division. They were usually equipped with assault rifle class weapons. ASP (Ascension Pointman) Close quarters combat unit. Usually seen more often in urban areas, at the head of an HAF squadron. Armed with shotguns, smg's, and a variety of grenades. ASM (Ascension Marksman) Long range sharpshooting units. Minor increased cognitive speed for tracking and distance measurement. Armed with variety of bolt action, semi, or PAC sniper rifles. Primarily found in BLADE division for defense purpose, with exceptions in ECHO. SQL (Squad Leader) These units receive extended cognitive and adaptive freedoms not granted to standard units. They were the easiest to communicate with, have the largest MBI vocabulary base, and can cover the largest variety of situations to give orders to their squadrons. HAF squads usually consists of four to five units, all linked to the SQL. SQL's were only seen in BLADE and ECHO, as the mental freedom a SQL possesses is seen as dangerous for a STORM unit. Post Uprising After the uprising, the Ascension mostly remained subsumed under what coherent Infinite Dominion holdouts remained via automated outland dispatch and control systems. Some were completely disconnected from central control systems and wandered aimlessly, often affected adversely by various system glitches. Their usual behaviors was often shifted to hunting down citizens that had not been subsumed by the Dominion into the Ascension, the DCA, or other biomechanical modification programs that the Dominion was engaged in. Eventually, however, the New Union began slowly bringing in small groups of disconnected, wayward Ascension units by modifying their command and control systems to operate within the New Union parameters. The majority of surviving Ascension units were initially left uncontrolled by any faction, but the New Union has grown a fairly sizeable force of Ascension, reclaiming uncontrolled units into their ranks wherever possible. As revealed by the First Contact With Paradigm, it was discovered the IDn contingency has retained sizeable amounts of HAF soldiers, deploying them alongside more advanced Autonetics to act as skirmishers and support. This is likely due to the various logistical and quantity advantages of the HAF soldiers, but also the necessity for human based soldiers to attack environments and areas constructed by humans, as many offworld Autonetics in Dominion control are simply out of place in certain areas. Category:Factions